Lauren Kiino hands out tastes from Il Cane Rosso at CUESA festivities in the Ferry Building.

Lauren Kiino hands out tastes from Il Cane Rosso at CUESA festivities in the Ferry Building.

Photo: Michelle Terris, The Chronicle

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Umbrian Lentil Salad with Roasted Mushrooms & Beets as seen in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, November 7, 2012. Food styled by Katie Fleming.

Umbrian Lentil Salad with Roasted Mushrooms & Beets as seen in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, November 7, 2012. Food styled by Katie Fleming.

Photo: Craig Lee, Special To The Chronicle

Lauren Kiino likes to talk about produce

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After they open their restaurants and are interviewed by the food press, most chefs learn to enjoy talking about themselves, their restaurants and their cuisine, becoming more voluble over time. That's why my interview with Lauren Kiino was such a surprise. Even after 10 years in the Bay Area restaurant business, she would rather talk about Northern California produce and her farm sources than talk about herself.

Last year when I volunteered at Sunday Supper, the annual Ferry Building fundraiser for the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, I helped Kiino serve her dish, a warm Umbrian lentil salad with chicories, roast peppers and tomato vinaigrette.

It was the first time we met officially, although for seven years I had eaten her food when she was at Delfina. It was there that she fell in love with the rustic, ingredient-driven Italian style of cooking.

This year, I got a chance to speak with her again at a fundraising dinner for the culinary and hospitality program at the City College of San Francisco.

The event was at Il Cane Rosso, Kiino's restaurant in the Ferry Building. It was sponsored by many of the building's purveyors, whom Kiino singled out as supplying the ingredients for much of the menu.

Mariquita Farm provided the tomatoes for the Bloody Mary Salad. Long and Bailey's suckling pig was used for the spit-roasted porchetta. The accompanying cannellini beans and the quinoa in the stuffed peppers came from Rancho Gordo.

I was also impressed that such a fine and well-coordinated meal for so many people could come from such a tiny kitchen.

Kiino is fourth-generation Japanese American, born in California but raised in Michigan. Her mother was a very good cook, and Kiino says roast chicken and meat loaf were more prevalent at home than traditional Japanese food.

Kiino graduated with a major in geology from Amherst, but she dreamed of cooking for a living. Instead of going to culinary school, she learned her craft on the job, working for free at Chris Schlesinger's innovative East Coast Grill in Boston every weekend during her senior year.

She was able to turn that into a paying job as a pantry cook and became hooked on East Coast Grill's style of live-fire cooking and bright flavors. She learned how to work quickly and efficiently in a small kitchen where organization and pacing were the keys to survival.

When she came back to California, she ended up at Delfina, another incredibly busy restaurant with a small kitchen. There Craig Stoll took her under his wing, even arranging stages in Italy for her. She also staged at Rubicon, Coi, the French Laundry and Boulette's Larder, always striving to improve her technique and develop her own style.

Il Cane Rosso opened in 2009 as a rotisserie and sandwich shop serving lunch, but was so successful it now serves breakfast and early supper, offering market-driven daily-changing menus.

She says she loves the spontaneity of her work, having the freedom and flexibility to create a new soup or salad if Andy Griffin from Mariquita should drop off an unexpected case of outstanding cauliflower or some amazingly fragrant celery.

Week by week, Kiino pays attention to small changes in flavor. She varies her techniques and selects recipes according to those minor seasonal changes that determine the outcome of a dish.

Her passion for vegetables dominates the menu, but she calls her style of cooking Northern California farmhouse, an amalgam of American, French, Italian and some Spanish influences. She cooks only what she likes to eat. "Lucky for me," she says, "my customers want to eat those dishes, too."

Warm Wheatberry, Cauliflower & Escarole Salad

When topped it with a fried egg and pecorino cheese, this is an awesome, and almost vegetarian, entree. It's inspired by Italian-style spicy cauliflower, which is usually topped with breadcrumbs.

Bacon Vinaigrette

4 strips of bacon, minced (about 2 ounces)

1 teaspoon minced shallot

1 small garlic clove, ground to a paste in mortar and pestle with pinch of salt or put through a garlic press

8 tablespoons sherry vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, as needed

-- Salt and black pepper to taste

Salad

2 tablespoons olive oil, as needed

2 cups small cauliflower florets and leaves

-- Kosher salt, to taste

1/2 cup sliced red onion

1 teaspoon minced jalapeno, to taste

2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

2 cups cooked wheat berries

4 cups bite-size pieces of escarole or radicchio

-- Black pepper, to taste

-- Shaved pecorino romano (optional)

-- Olive oil-fried eggs (optional)

For the vinaigrette: Cook the bacon in a small skillet, until crisp. Drain on paper towels, reserving the bacon drippings, which should be about 1-2 tablespoons. Meanwhile, place the shallot, garlic, vinegar and mustard in a small bowl; let stand a few minutes, then whisk in the reserved bacon drippings and enough olive oil to make 3 tablespoons total. (If the bacon fat has congealed, first warm it briefly in the microwave.) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the salad: Coat the bottom of a large sauce pan with olive oil; heat over medium heat. Add the cauliflower, sprinkle with salt and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the red onion and cook until softened, about 2 minutes more. Add the jalapeno and parsley, and cook a few minutes more. Add the wheat berries and escarole and cook until the wheat berries are warmed through and escarole is wilted, about 5 minutes.

Just before serving, add the reserved bacon and enough vinaigrette to coat everything (rewarm the vinaigrette if needed). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with the pecorino and eggs, if using.

Umbrian Lentil Salad With Roasted Mushrooms & Beets

From Il Cane Rosso chef-owner Lauren Kiino. The beets and mushrooms can be prepared a day ahead, and the lentils can be cooked early on the day of serving and kept at room temperature.

1/2 pound red, yellow or Chioggia beets, scrubbed

4 tablespoons olive oil + more as needed

-- Kosher salt, to taste

6 ounces oyster or royal trumpet mushrooms

2 tablespoons minced thyme

1/4 cup minced carrot

1/4 cup minced fennel

1/4 cup minced onion

2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley

1 cup Umbrian or du Puy lentils, picked through

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

-- Pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon minced fresh mint

For the beets: Preheat the oven to 400°. Put the beets in shallow roasting pan, toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Add 1/2 cup water to the pan and cover with foil. Roast beets until they are tender and can be easily pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes or longer, depending on the size of the beets.

For the mushrooms: Trim the mushrooms and cut into bite-size pieces; you should have about 2 cups. Toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon minced thyme and a sprinkle of salt. Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast in the 400° oven until lightly caramelized, 12 to 15 minutes. If prepared ahead, cover and refrigerate.

For the salad: Pour enough oil into a medium-size saucepan to just coat the bottom; heat over medium heat. Add the carrots, fennel, onion and parsley; cook until the onions are translucent and soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the lentils and stir to combine. Add 2 cups water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally and adding a little more water if needed. Cook until slightly al dente, 25 to 30 minutes, depending on the lentil variety and age. When done, remove from the heat, add the vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

When the lentils are cool, stir in the remaining thyme, the mint, beets and mushrooms, and serve.

Joyce Goldstein is a cooking teacher, consultant, author and the former chef-owner of Square One in San Francisco. She is working on a history of California cuisine to be published next year. Her most recent book is "Mediterranean Fresh." E-mail: food@sfchronicle.com

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